The COVID lockdown is expected to be extended for Western NSW Local Government Areas (LGAs) and there is a possibility of tighter restrictions for Sydney construction workers in regional NSW
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Deputy Premier John Barilaro made the announcements on Monday due to the ongoing COVID situation, particularly in the state's west.
Western NSW recorded 24 new cases up to 8pm on Sunday night, taking the region's total to 283.
Mr Barilaro said a meeting to discuss the regional NSW lockdown will take place on Wednesday, and it will be made clear what will be required to lift individual LGAs out of lockdown. He said it should include looking at cases of sewage surveillance, positive case numbers as well as the situation in neighbouring LGAs.
"My view would be whatever we decide on for the announcement for post this weekend needs to be long term, you can't go week by week. I've never been a fan of week by week and I was confident we could get out of this in the first seven days and it's not the case," Mr Barilaro said.
"If we do go for a further extension, if it's 14 days, if it's 28 days, if it's to the end of September, we need to be upfront of it so businesses can prepare, communities can prepare and of course we can make adjustments to support packages."
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The region was due to come out of lockdown on Saturday, however cases in the western area continue to rise.
Of the 283 cases in Western NSW, 234 are in Dubbo.
There were also seven new cases announced in Orange in recent days while cases have popped up at Parkes, as well.
Those cases were discovered following COVID detection in sewage surveillance.
"We've been saying for a week about Orange we were concerned about Orange and now we've got a case in Orange and it was the same in Mudgee and Parkes so it is a very, very good indicator," Mr Barilaro said.
"If you are in Cobar, Bathurst, Parkes and Orange and Lithgow we are encouraging people to come out and get tested, we now have cases."
Mr Barilaro said putting restrictions on construction workers coming from Sydney was something he would raise at a crisis committee on Monday.
VIDEO: John Barilaro makes regional update...
"Remembering up to two weeks ago we weren't locked down in the regions and it was almost business as usual," he said.
"Things have changed, we are now locked down in the regions because we've got cases, predominately brought from Sydney, construction seems to be an area that is of concern.
"In saying that we've now got requirements we've got and the agreement we've got with the construction industry around vaccination and testing, rapid antigen testing on site, we believe will gain us plenty of cover.
"It's possible there could be tighter restrictions."
Mr Barilaro said as of Tuesday he will start listing the top three and bottom three LGAs in terms of vaccination rates.
"It's clear that vaccination is the key to getting our freedom going forward," he said.
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